Jennifer Brunner

Outgoing board chairman William Anthony, Jr., presided during removal of Matt Damschroder as director of the Elections board.

12:00AM

March 2, 2008

With only two days before the Ohio primary, there’s been a shake-up at the Franklin County Board of Elections. Republican Matt Damschroder was removed as director Sunday. He’ll remain as a consultant through the end of the year. There have been reports of friction between Damschroder and Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, a Democrat.

Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner wants Cuyahoga County to switch from electronic touch screen voting to an optical scanning system that uses paper ballots. Elections officials in other counties wonder if they too will be required to make the change.

Ohio’s top elections official says all you’d need is a magnet and “smart phone” like the Palm Treo to tamper with Ohio’s electronic voting machines. Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner is reporting today on the findings of a $1,900,000 study of electronic voting systems in the state.